Chini ya mnazi bandarini
Kumbukumbu ndizo zilizobakia tu
Kunizinguka akilini
Huba lako kulikosa
Yaumiza moyoni

Upepo  kutoka baharini
Tulipoketi ukininong'onezea
Sikioni kwamba ni mimi tu
Kwamba utanipenda
Tukichora zetu mchangani
Aaah, nyakati za raha hizo!

Ukaniliwaza mtima
Tukapanga mipango ya milele
Nabakia kutafuna utamu
Wa kumbukumbu tu
Chini ya mnazi bandarini
Nikilemewa maradhi ya moyo

Filamu ya huba letu akilini
Tukicheza ufukoni
Penzi ndio madini ninayokosa mwilini
Kama kosa ni langu najuta
Usinkwepe rejea nakwita

Nitakuenzi nikutunze almasi
Tulitwae tunda la penzi nawe
Tulichovye buyu la asali
Wengine waone kijicho

Tupendane tena
Chini ya mnazi bandarini

Sikiliza kinda zikitoa wimbo
maneno yanao tendeleza
kwa kiloho and pia dhamila

Mpenzi tazama hapo tulisimama
kumbuka upendo ulioshangaza
hapakuwa na mipaka yoyote

Nakuamkia tena mpenzi
kati ya mawe ya sali
tena asubuhi na mapema

Sikiliza mawimbi yakituliza
yakisema maneno matamu
yanao tembeza na amusha

                  Translation
Ohh hear the chick sing a melody
tuned with tender words
those that soothe the heart and mind

At the ledge where we stand
remember the magical remnants
without a face or a boundary

I wake up to you my love
in the midst of an unknown matrix
as the early sun rises

Ohh hear the waves calm the day
saying sweet and lovely words
of tales that stares and awakens

Is this the hardest thing I’ve ever done?
Watching us crumble,
The foundation we built
Now cracked,
Splintered,
Like my heart.

Heartbreak isn't new,
But not like this -
I’m shattered and wrecked.

You're my confidant,
My mpenzi,
My darling,
My handsome man,
My kindhearted super achiever,
Joyful, yet so melancholic
Emotional, yet so light-hearted
Strong and vulnerable,
Brave,
But also so afraid,
What are you so afraid of, darling?

I wanted to shield you from the hurt,
Seeing you break shattered me in ways I couldn’t express.
My tears never came,
Only the sharp, silent ache,
A dagger twisting deep within.

Why do we have to say goodbye?
You belong in my heart
And I in yours.

I don’t know what comes next,
But I wish we could turn back -
Undo this hurt.

Yet, I wonder: do you truly love me?
Or are you afraid to admit it,
Caught in a complicated web?

Still, I love you,
Beyond all doubt.

My baby sings to me sometimes

A gift of wind from her lungs. Giving up the thing they love the most.

She explains to me “Mpenzi, wakati mwingine inabidi tujitoe sadaka”

Meaning “My love, sometimes we have to sacrifice”

I know the tale more than most. My mother was a sun too in love with the stars so she gave us some of her bright and sat on the throne of the moon, watching us shine on the midnight of her skin.

My baby sings to me sometimes

Songs about trees, but not the brown of the branches but the dark of her roots, the basin of her belly where her pride comes from. Just like that of her mother and her mother before her.

“Umekula leo?” “Have you eaten today?”, “because it is the nature of my hands to care for your body, and the nature of my heart to care for your soul”.

My baby sings to me sometimes

She hums “lala salama” like a ritual to chase away night mares.

She whispers “nakupenda” like she doesn't trust her lips to say what her heart means.

And she sings, like only queens do, like only dreams do.

My love, I have gathered your voice in the desert of my favourite memories, and yours is the background music to everything good that has ever happened to me.

So sell me your whisper, and hum me a song about stars and midnight and moons that used to be suns. And I will pay the price, I will peel the skin from my secrets and show you all the parts of me where I hide God.

Because  wakati mwingine inabidi tujitoe sadaka, but most times we don’t.